Pyeongtaek: A US base, Americana in rural South Korea

... Andrew Yeo, an associate professor of politics at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, says that the split between business owners and farmers is an old feature of life around Camp Humphreys.

"The anti-base faction were primarily farmers and the pro-base faction were merchants and, based on my observations, there was bad blood," Yeo wrote in an email.

Yeo added that in South Korea it is often protesters from outside the communities where US military bases are located who are the most committed to campaigning against them.

"There was still strong resistance from residents and local activists in Pyeongtaek, but national level activists are driven by a strong ideological commitment and long-term goal for peace and unification on the Korean Peninsula," Yeo said. He added that residents and activists see the US presence as an impediment to direct dialogue between South and North Korea, and thereby an obstacle to unification. ...